The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians
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Xenophon >> The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians
[4] Lit. reading {kai oi sun auto}, after L. Dindorf, "he and those
with him."
[5] Lit. "the Purphuros." See Nic. Damasc. ap. Stob. "Fl." 44, 41;
Hesych. ap. Schneider, n. ad loc.
[6] These are the {diabateria}, so often mentioned in the "Hellenica."
Invariably when he offers sacrifice the king begins the work in the
gloaming ere the day has broken, being minded to anticipate the
goodwill of the god. And round about the place of sacrifice are
present the polemarchs and captains, the lieutenants and sub-
lieutenants, with the commandants of the baggage train, and any
general of the states[7] who may care to assist. There, too, are to be
seen two of the ephors, who neither meddle nor make, save only at the
summons of the king, yet have they their eyes fixed on the proceedings
of each one there and keep all in order,[8] as may well be guessed.
When the sacrifices are accomplished the king summons all and issues
his orders[9] as to what has to be done. And all with such method
that, to witness the proceedings, you might fairly suppose the rest of
the world to be but bungling experimenters,[10] and the Lacedaemonians
alone true handicraftsmen in the art of soldiering.
[7] I.e. "allied"? or "perioecid"?
[8] {sophronizousin}, "keep every one in his sober senses."
[9] See Thuc. v. 66.
[10] {autoskhediastai, tekhnitai}. See Jebb, "Theophr." x. 3.
Anon the king puts himself at the head of the troops, and if no enemy
appears he heads the line of march, no one preceding him except the
Sciritae, and the mounted troopers exploring in front.[11] If,
however, there is any reason to anticipate a battle, the king takes
the leading column of the first army corps[12] and wheels to the right
until he has got into position with two army corps and two generals of
division on either flank. The disposition of the supports is assigned
to the eldest of the royal council[13] (or staff corps) acting as
brigadier--the staff consisting of all peers who share the royal mess
and quarters, with the soothsayers, surgeons,[14] and pipers, whose
place is in the front of the troops,[15] with, finally, any volunteers
who happen to be present. So that there is no check or hesitation in
anything to be done; every contingency is provided for.
[11] Or, "who are on scouting duty. If, however, they expect a
battle," etc.
[12] Technically, "mora."
[13] {ton peri damosian}. See "Hell." IV. v. 8; vii. 4.
[14] See "Anab." III. iv. 30; "Cyrop." I. vi. 15; L. Dindorf, n. ad
loc.
[15] Schneider refers to Polyaenus, i. 10.
The following details also seem to me of high utility among the
inventions of Lycurgus with a view to the final arbitrament of battle.
Whensoever, the enemy being now close enough to watch the
proceedings,[16] the goat is sacrificed; then, says the law, let all
the pipers, in their places, play upon the pipes, and let every
Lacedaemonian don a wreath. Then, too, so runs the order, let the
shields be brightly polished. The privilege is accorded to the young
man to enter battle with his long locks combed.[17] To be of cheery
countenance--that, too, is of good repute. Onwards they pass the word
of command to the subaltern[18] in command of his section, since it is
impossible to hear along the whole of each section from the particular
subaltern posted on the outside. It devolves, finally, on the
polemarch to see that all goes well.
[16] See Plut. "Lycurg." 22 (Clough, i. 114); and for the goat
sacrificed to Artemis Agrotera, see "Hell." IV. ii. 20; Pause. IX.
xiii. 4; Plut. "Marcell." 22 (Clough, ii. 264).
[17] See Plut. "Lycurg." 22 (Clough, i. 114). The passage is corrupt,
and possibly out of its place. I cite the words as they run in the
MSS. with various proposed emendations. See Schneider, n. ad loc.
{exesti de to neo kai kekrimeno eis makhen sunienai kai phaidron
einai kai eudokimon. kai parakeleuontai de k.t.l.} Zeune,
{kekrimeno komen}, after Plut. "Lycurg." 22. Weiske, {kai komen
diakekrimeno}. Cobet, {exesti de to neo liparo kai tas komas
diakekrimeno eis makhen ienai}.
[18] Lit. "to the enomotarch."
When the right moment for encamping has come, the king is responsible
for that, and has to point out the proper place. The despatch of
emissaries, however, whether to friends or to foes, is [not][19] the
king's affair. Petitioners in general wishing to transact anything
treat, in the first instance, with the king. If the case concerns some
point of justice, the king despatches the petitioner to the
Hellanodikai (who form the court-martial); if of money, to the
paymasters.[20] If the petitioner brings booty, he is sent off to the
Laphuropolai (or sellers of spoil). This being the mode of procedure,
no other duty is left to the king, whilst he is on active service,
except to play the part of priest in matters concerning the gods and
of commander-in-chief in his relationship to men.[21]
[19] The MSS. give {au}, "is again," but the word {mentoi}, "however,"
and certain passages in "Hell." II. ii. 12, 13; II. iv. 38 suggest
the negative {ou} in place of {au}. If {au} be right, then we
should read {ephoren} in place of {basileos}, "belongs to the
ephors."
[20] Technically the {tamiai}.
[21] See Aristot. "Pol." iii. 14.
XIV[1]
Now, if the question be put to me, Do you maintain that the laws of
Lycurgus remain still to this day unchanged? that indeed is an
assertion which I should no longer venture to maintain; knowing, as I
do, that in former times the Lacedaemonians preferred to live at home
on moderate means, content to associate exclusively with themselves
rather than to play the part of governor-general[2] in foreign states
and to be corrupted by flattery; knowing further, as I do, that
formerly they dreaded to be detected in the possession of gold,
whereas nowadays there are not a few who make it their glory and their
boast to be possessed of it. I am very well aware that in former days
alien acts[3] were put in force for this very object. To live abroad
was not allowed. And why? Simply in order that the citizens of Sparta
might not take the infection of dishonesty and light-living from
foreigners; whereas now I am very well aware that those who are
reputed to be leading citizens have but one ambition, and that is to
live to the end of their days as governors-general on a foreign
soil.[4] The days were when their sole anxiety was to fit themselves
to lead the rest of Hellas. But nowadays they concern themselves much
more to wield command than to be fit themselves to rule. And so it has
come to pass that whereas in old days the states of Hellas flocked to
Lacedaemon seeking her leadership[5] against the supposed wrongdoer,
now numbers are inviting one another to prevent the Lacedaemonians
again recovering their empire.[6] Yet, if they have incurred all these
reproaches, we need not wonder, seeing that they are so plainly
disobedient to the god himself and to the laws of their own lawgiver
Lycurgus.
[1] For the relation of this chapter to the rest of the treatise, see
Grote, ix. 325; Ern. Naumann, "de Xen. libro qui" {LAK. POLITEIA}
inscribitur, p. 18 foll.; Newmann, "Pol. Aristot." ii. 326.
[2] Harmosts.
[3] "Xenelasies," {xenelasiai} technically called. See Plut. "Lycurg."
27; "Agis," 10; Thuc. ii. 39, where Pericles contrasts the liberal
spirit of the democracy with Spartan exclusiveness; "Our city is
thrown open to the world, and we never expel a foreigner or
prevent him from seeing or learning anything of which the secret,
if revealed to an enemy, might profit him."--Jowett, i. 118.
[4] Lit. "harmosts"; and for the taste of living abroad, see what is
said of Dercylidas, "Hell." IV. iii. 2. The harmosts were not
removed till just before Leuctra (371 B.C.), "Hell." VI. iv. 1,
and after, see Paus. VIII. lii. 4; IX. lxiv.
[5] See Plut. "Lycurg." 30 (Clough, i. 124).
[6] This passage would seem to fix the date of the chapter xiv. as
about the time of the Athenian confederacy of 378 B.C.; "Hell." V.
iv. 34; "Rev." v. 6. See also Isocr. "Panegyr." 380 B.C.; Grote,
"H. G." ix. 325. See the text of a treaty between Athens, Chios,
Mytilene, and Byzantium; Kohler, "Herm." v. 10; Rangabe, "Antiq.
Hellen." ii. 40, 373; Naumann, op. cit. 26.
XV
I wish to explain with sufficient detail the nature of the covenant
between king and state as instituted by Lycurgus; for this, I take it,
is the sole type of rule[1] which still preserves the original form in
which it was first established; whereas other constitutions will be
found either to have been already modified or else to be still
undergoing modifications at this moment.
[1] Or, "magistracy"; the word {arkhe} at once signifies rule and
governmental office.
Lycurgus laid it down as law that the king shall offer in behalf of
the state all public sacrifices, as being himself of divine
descent,[2] and whithersoever the state shall despatch her armies the
king shall take the lead. He granted him to receive honorary gifts of
the things offered in sacrifice, and he appointed him choice land in
many of the provincial cities, enough to satisfy moderate needs
without excess of wealth. And in order that the kings also might camp
and mess in public he appointed them public quarters; and he honoured
them with a double portion[3] each at the evening meal, not in order
that they might actually eat twice as much as others, but that the
king might have wherewithal to honour whomsoever he desired. He also
granted as a gift to each of the two kings to choose two mess-fellows,
which same are called Puthioi. He also granted them to receive out of
every litter of swine one pig, so that the king might never be at a
loss for victims if in aught he wished to consult the gods.
[2] I.e. a Heracleid, in whichever line descended, and, through
Heracles, from Zeus himself. The kings are therefore "heroes,"
i.e. demigods. See below; and for their privileges, see Herod. vi.
56, 57.
[3] See "Ages." v. 1.
Close by the palace a lake affords an unrestricted supply of water;
and how useful that is for various purposes they best can tell who
lack the luxury.[4] Moreover, all rise from their seats to give place
to the king, save only that the ephors rise not from their thrones of
office. Monthly they exchange oaths, the ephors in behalf of the
state, the king himself in his own behalf. And this is the oath on the
king's part: "I will exercise my kingship in accordance with the
established laws of the state." And on the part of the state the oath
runs: "So long as he[5] (who exercises kingship) shall abide by his
oaths we will not suffer his kingdom to be shaken."[6]
[4] See Hartman, "An. Xen. N." p. 274; but cf. "Cyneget." v. 34;
"Anab." V. iii. 8.
[5] Lit. "he yonder."
[6] Lit. "we will keep it for him unshaken." See L. Dindorf, n. ad
loc. and praef. p. 14 D.
These then are the honours bestowed upon the king during his lifetime
[at home][7]--honours by no means much exceeding those of private
citizens, since the lawgiver was minded neither to suggest to the
kings the pride of the despotic monarch,[8] nor, on the other hand, to
engender in the heart of the citizen envy of their power. As to those
other honours which are given to the king at his death,[9] the laws of
Lycurgus would seem plainly to signify hereby that these kings of
Lacedaemon are not mere mortals but heroic beings, and that is why
they are preferred in honour.[10]
[7] The words "at home" look like an insertion.
[8] Lit. "the tyrant's pride."
[9] See "Hell." III. iii. 1; "Ages." xi. 16; Herod. vi. 58.
[10] Intentionally or not on the part of the writer, the concluding
words, in which the intention of the Laws is conveyed, assume a
metrical form:
{oukh os anthropous all os eroas
tous Lakedaimonion basileis protetimekasin.}
See Ern. Naumann, op. cit. p. 18.